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Monday, April 22, 2013

What Sylvia Plath Said: Self-Doubt

By JccKeith

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath

Truer words were never spoken. I know very few people who create who do not
suffer from bouts with self doubt. There
is that moment after you create something where you feel ecstatic. It feels great to complete a project. It feels significant. There is a brief moment where you stand back
and marvel at your creation. You smile,
you nod at the accomplishment.

Then, sometimes only minutes later, you begin to second
guess your decisions. You look at your
work as someone else, someone outside of yourself. You wonder what others will think. You wonder what flaws they will find. You wonder whether they will understand your
intention. You wonder whether they will
appreciate not just your effort but your talent. Then you begin to wonder if you have talent.

Is everything you create worthless? Is everything you have created not as good as
you thought? Do people really like your
work or have they just been ‘being nice’ to your face? How does your work stand up compared to
everyone else’s?

In considering these terrible possibilities, we begin to
look for ways to validate our creations.
What makes something ‘good?’ What
makes something ‘great?’ Do we really need outside validation that our work is
brilliant? Shouldn’t our own opinion
mean more than anyone else’s? It should
but in so many cases, as much as we would like it to, our opinion carries less
weight than those of others. We seek out
approval. We want readers. We want fans.
We want people to read or view our work and be forever affected.

The goal of creating is to express our thoughts, our
emotions, our intentions and to affect others with them. Some people out there deny self-doubt. They insist they care nothing for outside
views and validation. If this is true,
then why do they write? They write
because they want to share. They can’t
imagine not writing. Even people writing
in a diary write because they need to share their secrets with someone.

For those who share their works with the world, self doubt
can be crippling. Lack of views, lack of
comments and lack of acceptance can all lead to negativity. Some people take this to heart and decide that
because there has been no validation of their skills or too little validation
of their skills in comparison to others – that they should stop writing. I say to these people – buck up. Life is full of little disappointments. Life is full of being ignored. It is full of bad reviews and inconsiderate
people.

Life’s little setbacks must not sway your desire to write
and express your personality to the world.
As the

saying goes, or says something similar to it, the world would be
a dull place if only the birds who sang best ever lifted their voice in song. The truth is that no one is ever ‘the best.’ There is no all out perfect writer or
artist. There will always be someone better
than you, smarter than you, wittier than you and with more views. You can’t let that dissuade you from
writing.

Write. Write because
you want to. Write because it makes you
feel good. Write because those stories
inside your head won’t rest until put on paper. Write despite the odds. When the little voice inside your head says stop,
turn back, don’t publish that, or you’re not good enough – tell it to step
off. Be yourself and be proud to be
different. Avoid negativity like the
poison that it is. Put your work out
there and don’t second guess, don’t look back, just get to work on your next
project.